The Unforgotten Memory
by Cyram
Summary: Soon after the events of Advent Children, everything seemed to begin falling into place. But one memory kept it from being completed... One lingering memory that just wont let go, haunts Cloud. He needs to find out, he needs to know, is it really over?
1. Prologue

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_**Prologue**

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Sitting there, thinking, yearning for information; Cloud sits there on his bed, his sword is laying across his legs. It has only been two months since he had defeated Sephiroth, but...

"_I will never... be a memory."_

The words echoed through his head, stress showing on the man's face.

"No!" He yelled out as he stabbed the tip of his sword into the wooden floor. He needed to keep these memories out of his mind, he needed to stay happy for everyone else's sake. But the memories wouldn't let go; they clung to his mind and refused to leave, constantly reminding him of his darkened past.

Knocking on the door, Tifa let herself into the room, taking a few steps in and looking over at Cloud with an expression of worry on her face.

"Are you alright?" She asked as she walked over to the bed and sat next to him. "Something seems to of been bothering you recently."

Shifting away from her, Cloud got to his feet, picking up the sword out of its small indent, he looked toward the door and looked down.

"I'm fine" He said, walking to the door.

"No, Cloud, don't do this again," She said standing to her feet, Cloud stopping halfway to the door. "You're running away from your feelings again, I thought you were over this, you can't keep living like this, it's obvious that it is dragging you down."

He sighed, letting his hands lower down, the weight of the sword pushing itself into the wooden paneling.

"I do not know what is wrong," He said, looking down, "I just... Don't know if it is really over..."

He walked to the door, swinging it open hard enough for the it to bounce off the cabinet next to it, causing it to close to a certain degree.

"Cloud!" The young women yelled after him, but he continued walking down the stairs to the bar, then out the front door into the town.

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Cloud walked through the streets, letting the people walk by without notice. He slid his phone out his pocket and scrolled through the many options before hitting the call button on a familiar name... _Cid_

The phone rang a few times, before finally being picked up.

"What do ya want?" Asked Cid from the other line.

"Cid, do you think you can pick me up in the Sherra?"

A sigh was issued from the man on the other end, "Yea... Whatever, sure, In Midgar are ya? Well then I'll pick ya up by the fountain thingy." The phone connection was then ended from the other side.

Cloud closed his phone, then placed it in his pocket before turning a corner in the direction he needed to go. He knew Tifa was undoubtedly mad at him, but he just needed to know something...

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Cloud walked up to the Marble fountain, which replaced the old Shinra shrine It was a huge fountain going about two feet deep, and fourteen feet wide. In the center, was a healing staff in Monument to Aeris. Inside the fountain was the water that had once filled the garden in the church. 

Cloud sat down on the edge and peered at his reflection in the water. The scar above his left eyebrow still showed there, reddish pink skin formed around where the wound used to be.

He looked into the water, picked up his right hand and eyed it, wondering why he never took off the black leather glove that occupied the hand. He slid the glove off slowly, letting the cold air attack his hand for the first time in a while.

He lowered his hand into the water, letting the coldness of it shiver up his arm and down his spine. He swayed his hand around slowly, watching the ripples of the water dance around.

The sound of an airship could be heard in the distance and Cloud stood up and placed his glove back on, looking towards the sky with his left hand hovering overhead to block out the sun.

The Sherra darkened into view, getting louder and louder. Before long it was over his head, and a rope ladder rolled down from the air and landing onto the ground with a lot more ladder left inside the huge ball of it.

"Thanks," he stated sarcastically as he pulled himself up the ladder, his sword constantly banging against his back after each step.

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He walked into the pilots room, the sun glowing down in through the glass onto Cid whom was standing by it, looking into the sky. 

"Really took your time," The man stated, as he turned to face Cloud, a freshly lit cigarette hanging from his mouth. "So, where are you making me take you, because you didn't feel like taking _other_ means of _other _types of transportation?"

Cloud eyed him for a second, before walking up near Cid, and look into the sky.

"_Northern Crater." _


	2. Chapter 1: Sherra

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**_Chapter One: Sherra

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_Okay, here is the all fixed up chapter... Hopefully it's all fixed up... Either way**

**Enjoy!

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**  
"Wah!" Gasped Cid, "Are ya serious boy! What do ya need from there!"

Cloud looked down and to his right, "I just want to know something... That is all."

"Geez, you made me fly all the way over to Midgar, just so you can tell me to take you tah Northern Crater?"

Cloud did not respond, but kept staring at the portion of the floor he was looking at, he did not know what to say. He did not want Cid to be angry with him, yet he wanted to find out for himself, he wanted to know for himself, was Sephiroth truly defeated? He watched right there as he transformed back into Kadaj, but him using someone else to rule over everyone, just made it seem as though Sephiroth still laid somewhere, waiting or gathering his power, he has done it before, could he really do it again?

"But fine, Ill take ya, just so I can figure out what the _hell_ is going on in your head!" Cid answered causing Cloud to look over toward him with a sort of _Thank you_ look. "Ill be going slow though... Youll find out why... Just walk around the ship and leave me be, Ill get ya there, don't worry yourself."

Cloud nodded his head and walked out of the room entering on to a balcony which was guarded by a three foot high railing. To his right, was a metal wall, which led down for about twenty-five feet, lined with doors, and with one more door at the very end of the balcony.

He walked to his left, placing his hands onto the railing, and looking over at the clouds as they slowly fly through them; they really _were_ going slow... Out of nowhere, a piece of Materia hit him in the back of his head.

He turned around to find Yuffie whom slightly giggling at what she had just done.

"Hey...Yuffie" He said to her, a smile faintly on his face. He bent down and picked up the blue materia ball, bolts of thunder sparking inside the small ball.

"Hey Cloud!" She yelled with enthusiasm, running up and pocketing the Materia ball somewhere... _Where does she put all those things?_ He asked himself, undoubtedly knowing she had more on her somewhere. She loved Materia, was infested with it, _yes_ they sell it in their hometown, but she liked to smuggle a few away for herself. He hasn't seen her do this exactly, but he _has_ heard most of the complaints. "So, I heard you wanted to go somewhere, where we going?"

"I am guessing that you want to come?" He asked, realizing that she was the reason why they had to fly slowly. The girl nodded in agreement at him, her new necklace bouncing around as she did so. The necklace was a Yin and Yang sign with a small dagger going through it.

"So where we goin?"

"Northern Crater... If you _really_ want to come, I guess you can."

The girl went wide eyed, stopping her small dance of enthusiasm. "Thats the Sephiroth place... Right?"

"Yea."

She blinked hard for a moment, before shaking her head and going back to her little dance. "Okay, Ill go get my stuff ready, go talk to Vincent if you want, he is... somewhere around here, see ya then!" She turned around and went into the door closest to the Pilot's room, Cloud noticed the door was numbered '**10**' in black numbers. The automatic door opened for her instantly, and closed behind her, letting Cloud also notice there was a small window about four inches wide in a circle, on the upper part of the door.

Cloud shrugged his shoulders and walked down the hall of the balcony, looking in the windows to see if he could see Vincent or not, finally, at door number **'4'** he had found him.

He walked into the room; the room had a wooden floor and, next to the door, was a small wooden desk that came about three feet and three inches off the floor, it looked old and tattered. Papers were scattered all over the top of the desk and there was a gray metal chair pushed under-neath the desk.

The walls were a dull gray, as well as the ceiling. There was a small brown, polished ceiling fan hanging from the ceiling with a light coming out of it. The light was on, and it produced a massive amount of light around the room; the ceiling fan had two balled chains hanging down from it. The room itself seemed to be somewhere in between a rectangle and a square. It looked to be thirteen feet in length, twelve feet, five inches in width, and nine feet, three inches in height.

The door entered the room at about halfway through the width, and the room stretched ahead. To the right and about five feet down, was a bookshelf. It seemed to be at seven feet in height and was close to the ceiling. There were books covering the entire insides of the shelves. The bookshelf was a polished brown, and had black wheels at the bottom of it.

At the corner on the far right, was a full sized mattress, it was covered with blue sheets and had Vincent sitting on top of it with his legs in Indian-style, and his hands were on his knees and he was starring straight forward at a huge map hanging on the wall. It was a full map of the planet, with the names of all the places and everything.

"Cloud," Vincent said firmly, lowering his head and closing his eyes.

"Vincent," Cloud said back, noticing the silver crate in the far left corner in the room... It seemed to be the only thing in the room that wasnt brown or gray... Besides the map and the books... Plus Vincents bed and... well... Vincent himself.

"Been thinking a lot lately, have you not?" Vincent asked Cloud, looking over at him with his red eyes.

"Yea," Said Cloud, rubbing the top of his head.

"Dont let your thoughts stray you too far from yourself," he said, still looking straight at him. "You stray too far from yourself; something mis-fortunate is liable to happen."

Cloud looked down, thoughts pouring into his mind. Was this really the old him thinking? Is he really straying himself too far from everyone else again? Was this all just so he can lose another piece of his broken soul of memories and feelings? Is something bad _actually_ going to come out of this?

"Thanks," he said looking up at Vincent and nodding his head, which Vincent returned.

He wasnt going to let himself break apart, he was not going to let him lose his own soul again. He could not let it happen... He wouldnt... He needed to fight his feelings and control them, making sure all the future acts of his foolishness be dimmed and die along with the rest of his bad memories. He did not want anyone to be mad at him anymore, he did not want them to be feared for his condition.

He knew what he must do. He was going to go into Northern Crater, have Yuffie come with him, find nothing, leave, never worry about anything along the lines of Sephiroth or anyone of them ever again. But only after he does this, will the clinging memory, clinging and wandering for life, go away. He just needed to hope that nothing actually happened.

"Cloud!" Yuffie screamed as she rushed in, "We are here, come on," She said motioning to the door behind her.

Cloud nodded her head, the frosty cold wind blowing in from the outside. Cloud turned around to Vincent, they nodded to each other, and Cloud walked out the door. He took a right and followed the hall of the balcony, walking the rest of the way down with Yuffie following a few inches behind.

He walked through the door which led to the main entryway. It was a huge room, the ceiling was about twenty-one feet up, and the room stretched to his right too far to describe.

There was a huge panel in the middle, it stretched a good ten feet down, and six feet in width, along with being raised four feet up. In the center was a screen signifying their current location on a map, and there were also a bunch of security camera screens that showed all around the entire air ship...

"Too many screens," Cloud thought out loud, Yuffie getting the point as she walked in.

There was a small area that had about four steps leading up. It stretched about eight feet to the right, and each step was split apart by at least six inches in height, making the thing come to about two feet in height. Each side had a small metal railing coming up about four feet, six feet at full height as it continued to the wall.

The thing was located in the back of the room, about six feet towards the right once you come in, it connected to the wall, and the stairs led to a big square which was about seven four feet by four feet. The thing had no visibal purpose of what Cloud could see... But you never really know... Unless it was just there to sit down on and relax... But that made no sense either.

He walked up to the thing in the middle which he was now calling the control panel, and looked at where they were. They were right above Northern Crater, which meant that they should be leaving and get this over with now before Yuffie became too overwhelmed... Why he let her come with him, he will have to try and figure out later... Maybe she was just too cheerful?

"Ready?" Cloud asked the girl, looking at her as she walked beside him.

She nodded her head, "Yes."

"Good."

"Follow me," She said, running over to a door across the room.

She ran through the automatic door, motioning her hand for him to follow as she ran out of view. Cloud walked up to the door and exited the room, to now be on another balcony-like thing. He heard something clank below him. He looked down to notice he was standing on a metal railing.

The wind blew his hair around fiercely as he walked the seven feet or so to the left before a small turn was made. The entire right side had a safety railing, along the left side too after you turned.

He walked the two feet forward onto a square panel which was about five feet by five feet. Yuffie stood next to what seemed like a button mechanism. Only two buttons appeared on the thing. A down button, and an up button.

She pushed the down button and the elevator like thing slowly made its way down, a gate lifting up and closing them in after they left the ships railings.

"You guys couldnt lower this thing down for me!" Cloud yelled to her over the wind, their hair flying around fiercely.

"Of course not!" She yelled back at him, tucking her hands under her arms, with her right hand still holding onto the switch, which connected to the elevator through a cord that came out of the back of it.

"How much weight can this thing hold!" he yelled at her in question.

"About ten-thousand!"

"Ten-Thousand! How can that even be managed on an elevator as small as this one!"

"Cid found a way... I guess!"

Cloud shrugged before tucking his hands under his arms as well. He looked at Yuffie whom shivered in the cold... Not surprising considering what she is wearing.

The elevator lowered the two down slowly, taking what seemed to be an hour, slowly lowering them into the pitch black Crater, lowering them further... and further... into the darkness.

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**The chapters will most likely get longer after this, this just seemed like a good stopping point for now. So... What do you think of it so far? I really want to know your opinions on it, so Review! Please... I see you few people reading it... Review!...Please If there were any missing quotation marks... Blame Open Office... I had to download it last night just to get my chapter!  
**


	3. Chapter 2: Awakening

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_**Chapter Two: Awakening **_

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The elevator landed down with a thud, the gates lowering onto the ground in the shape of a plus sign. The inside of the Crater had changed drastically, causing an expression of shock to appear onto the faces of the two people. The last time the two had been here and Cloud defeated Sephiroth, the inside of the Crater had collapsed.

Now, from the inside of the Crater of the Mountain. The Crater went downward in a perfect circle all the way down to the bottom, which was further into the mountain from what the two remembered.

Cloud's heart raced, he stumbled slowly as if in a trance towards one side of the Crater, walking slowly, as if he was not even there.

Yuffie walked over to a random side of a wall, which the entire thing was enclosed in, and there were no other signs of any other rooms. She slid her hand across the wall, the entire thing feeling similar to crystal.

"Just like Materia," She said, pulling out a piece of Materia from a random place and comparing the two, "Almost exactly alike." She turned her head to the right, three statues of people could be seen. She grasped the piece of Materia in the palm of her right hand, and held onto it tightly.

She stopped right next to one of the figures, "Yazoo?" She looked over the rest of the statues. They were made out of the same material covering the inside of the Crater and resembled Yazoo, Kadaj, and Loz, going in that order from left to right. She slid her hand across her face, confusion as well as something else showing in her facial expression.

Cloud walked up to a lone statue, which stood there defiantly, "Se-Sephiroth?" He raised his hand up toward Sephiroth's arm.

"Cloud!" Yelled Yuffie from the opposite end of the room. Cloud's fingers touched Sephiroth's shoulder, pain instantly forking up his right arm.

Cloud yelled out in pain and grabbed onto his right arm. He had no control of it as his pain stricken limb waved around in several directions. Cloud's heart beat increased, the pain moving slowly up his arm. He dropped to his knees, his arm feeling like it was about to explode.

The pain moved up to his shoulder, instantly growing even more intensely in reaction to the scar close to his shoulder. Cloud reared backwards, his chest facing the air.

A light shot out of his arm and flew upwards to the very top of the Crater. The walls began glowing, light flowing down them like a thick liquid, slowly making it's way to the bottom then filling underneath the floor. The light traveled up the statues of the silver haired men, but not having any effect at all on Sephiroth. The light left his arm, allowing Cloud to fall backwards onto his legs.

"It is said that a warrior has a sort of spiritual connection with his weapon," came a voice that Cloud recognized. He stood up and stared at Kadaj, who was glaring over at him. Yuffie had her Shuriken pointed outwards with one hand, while Yazoo pointed his Velvet Nightmare towards her. "That is why we are here, that is how you released us. It is because of the small amount of Sephiroth's spiritual energy left in your arm that allows him to control it. Allows him to live in your thoughts, and allowed you to set us free."

"Why not himself then?" Cloud asked them, holding out his heavy blade with both of his hands, pointing it in the direction of Kadaj.

"Why you ask? Well I will have you know, because a _small_ bit of spiritual energy is not enough to bring _him_ back, but, would you be interested in finding out what _is_ enough to bring him back?" Cloud stared at him intently, unmoving. "We need you... Your blood, your life's energy... Not enough to kill you of course, but enough to leave you out of commission for a while. Long enough to let the four of us do our bidding onto this planet."

Yazoo looked over his left shoulder towards Loz, "No crying this time, Loz."

"I don't cry!" The man screamed out, his Dual Hound extending outward in aggression.

"Calm down, pretty boy," Yazoo said, as he looked back at Yuffie, whom he gave a questionable look.

"Pretty boy! How am I a pretty boy?" Yazoo didn't even pay attention to Loz's comeback. Loz whimpered for a second before looking back at Cloud. Both Cloud and Kadaj seemed unaffected by the whole... Squabble.

Cloud and Kadaj stared into each other's eyes fiercely. Kadaj slowly raised his right hand above his back and slid his Souba out of its casing, holding it steadily outwards, toward Cloud with one hand.

Cloud swung his sword to the right at Kadaj's blade, Kadaj surprisingly keeping hold of the sword. The silver haired man rushed forward and sliced toward Cloud's neck, but the blonde ducked forward, followed by Kadaj jumping off the back of his neck and doing a somersault in mid-air before swinging his sword upward at Cloud.

Cloud stood up to full stance while placing his sword flat in front of him, blocking the attack. Kadaj landed on his feet before swinging his own weapon diagonally. Cloud struck his sword at Souba, reflecting the deadly weapon away.

Kadaj ran back at Cloud and jumped before sending his foot toward the blond. Cloud grabbed the foot with his left hand and turned around behind himself as he threw Kadaj in that direction. Kadaj rolled on the ground and quickly began running towards Cloud with his sword over his waist. The blonde heard footsteps coming from behind him.

Cloud wrapped his hands around the handle on the back of his sword and pulled back, letting the blade find its way out of the sword. He swung the lighter sword over to the left, and the heavier one to the right. Loz's Dual Hound's stab was blocked by Cloud's sword, Kadaj jumped before his sword impacted with Cloud's and instead sent his blade towards Cloud's arm.

Cloud spun around, using his lighter sword to block off Kadaj's attack and his heavier one to strike the sword away. Loz charged forward for another attack, his hand ready to pull back on the handle to the Dual Hound. Cloud gave a solid kick into Kadaj's chest and slashed down with his heavy sword at Loz. The older silver haired man threw his weapon downwards, Cloud's sword barely missing the weapon.

Loz jumped and delivered both his feet into Cloud's stomach. The blonde stumbled backwards as Kadaj swung his sword at Cloud but accidentally hit one of his swords instead. Cloud finished his stumble backwards, and reconnected the lighter sword to where it should be.

"How were your statues created?' He asked as he held his sword out in front of him with both hands.

"Isn't it obvious? It was our Mother, glorious Mother who always cared for her children." Kadaj stated as he slid the bottom of his sword across the ground.

"How could she bring you back?" Cloud asked, gripping his sword tighter.

"Easily! Her head was left here, the head was invaluable to us back then, but only because we needed a vast amount of energy to recreate Sephiroth. But we were wrong, the head had more energy than any other part of her!" He stopped raising an opened hand in the air, showing the top of the Crater. "This is all from the power of her head! It devoured her entirely, to reform us and cover the inside of the Crater." He lowered his hand back down and tilted his head down as well. "You see, Shinra excavated this Crater for two years, trying to get to Mother's remains before anyone else could possibly use it against everyone. But you see, they nearly delivered it right to us. When they thought they were protecting it they were merely the pawns we used to find everything. Although, mind you, I did not know they had her the whole time, I must give them that."

"Will you stop talking!" Loz yelled aloud to his brother, taking his focus off of Cloud. "Do you think it will give us _any_ use in telling him! We lost our mother so we could be reborn after we failed the first time! Are you not ashamed?" Loz finished, his hand wiping away the fluid coming from his running nose.

"Why did she even bother bringing you back?" Kadaj asked in disbelief, shaking his head.

Cloud stood up, eying the two. He eased the grip on his weapon and let it lower slowly to the ground. A small smirk appeared on Kadaj's face as he swiftly swung his blade towards Cloud's chest. Cloud jumped back, the blade barely missing him. Loz jumped up and kicked him in his chest, causing him to fall to the ground, the wall stopping his fall as he sat there looking up. Loz drove the Dual Hound straight towards Cloud's stomach.

"Thunder!" Shouted a voice from the opposite end of the Crater. Loz flew forward, a bolt of lighting striking into his back became clearly visible. Cloud looked up, noticing Yuffie, her right arm stretched out, Materia ball grasped in the palm of her hand. Her Shuriken in her left hand, her right arm still outstretched. Kadaj grunted before charging at Cloud with his sword. Yuffie threw her Shuriken with her left hand. "Thunder!" She yelled again, before a bolt of lightning was sent straight towards her weapon. The two connected, before almost striking Kadaj.

He reflected the weapon away with his sword before being shot backwards against the wall from the thunder on the weapon. Cloud nodded his head and the two ran towards the elevator. Cloud stopped and turned around to grab Kadaj's blade. He then set off once again after taunting Kadaj.

The two boarded the elevator and Yuffie smashed her finger on the "Up" button. Before the two took off, Cloud saw Yazoo laying on the floor across the room. The elevator shot straight up into the air after the gates closed around them. Cloud glared over at Yuffie, whom was focusing on the remote. "_You could not do that earlier?" _He thought to himself shortly before the elevator slowed down, the surrounding gates lowering shortly before they came back up to the ship.

Yuffie threw her hands over her mouth, and ran across the cat walk inside, Cloud merely shrugging and made his way inside.

Thoughts flooded into his mind, mainly how it was now his fault silver haired men returned. Soon enough now that Sephiroth was going to return, most likely stronger and less cockier. Maybe this time he would not be able to stop him. Maybe this time the devious man's plans would succeed.

Cloud yelled as he threw Kadaj's sword across the room, hitting a portion of the wall before falling onto the steps. Cloud walked up to the steps and slammed his sword onto them, creating a large and very noticeable gash.

Cloud dropped his sword and sat on the top of the steps, pulling at his hair and trying to rip it out. _It is all your fault_ repeated through his head rapidly.

"You might not want to blame yourself so quickly," Vincent said, his back against the wall next to the stairs. "They said it themselves, Sephiroth was putting those thoughts into them that made you go and check, you have no reason to blame yourself."

"How-" Cloud began.

"Yuffie told me," He said, looking over at Cloud.

Cloud nodded his head before standing, "So... What do you suggest we do?" the blonde asked, taking out his phone.

"Kill them," he said looking to his right quickly, then shook his head. "You are going to have to inform everyone of the present situation, then you are going to have to get Yuffie out of the bathroom."

Cloud blinked at him, "Which door is the bathroom?"

"It is number six, but she has one in her room," Vincent responded before walking towards the door.

"Vincent!" Cloud yelled after him

He turned around and looked at him with a 'Hm?' type of look. "Thanks," the blonde said, slightly nodding his head.

"Hm,." Vincent returned the nod and turned around before leaving the room.

Cloud quickly walked out the door, eying his phone as he treaded across the cat-walk. He shifted his eyes around, seeing that Vincent was already gone. Shrugging, he walked down past the numbered doors. Cloud looked at the doors as he passed by them before stopping at Yuffie's room, number ten, and walking in.

The floor of the room was covered in a dark pink rug, which was covered with little balls of Materia all around the floor. From when you walked in, there was about three feet of walking, and there was a wall, which went to the right for four feet before turning downward. The room went to the right for ten feet and seemed to be a little smaller than Vincent's room, but was also crammed with more stuff. The length of the room was just like Vincent's; thirteen feet.

On the far white side there was a twin sized bed that was covered in green sheets and had a light wooden bed frame and also went along the length of the wall.

The walls were covered with posters and little cut outs of many things and about six feet along the length of the wall on the far right end, the wall turned left and went down for four feet. The little room was a square of four feet, and was most likely the bathroom.

There was a small corner where a bean bag, or something like it, stood in a slouched manner by the bathroom. In front of the bean bag was a pile of Materia. The walls were also pink and very painful to the eyes.

"Yuffie!" Cloud spoke loudly as he walked towards the bathroom.

"Uh, What?" Yuffie moaned

"Yo— you— did you put all that stuff in this room yourself?" Cloud asked, shocked at the colorful place.

"No! Cid did it! The prick..." She finished saying it under her breath.

"Ah..." Cloud answered as he walked over to her bed and sat down.

"Can I have your phone?" Yuffie asked out of the bathroom.

"No!" Cloud yelled back toward her.

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**Yea, I know I said it would be longer... Fah! It will gradually increase as I got on though. This is my first time in the Final Fantasy genre... Heh, either way, the next chapter should be up sooner. I have been sick for the weekend and stuff... So yea, either way, I have a whole week off next week, so a few more chapters should be disputed from it. Okay?**

**Review!**

**Update: This would of been up sooner, but _someone _forgotten to pay the bill... So as the editor was looking over the chapter, my connection just went POOF!**


	4. Chapter 3: Crash

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_** Chapter Three: Crash **_

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"Ohh, why can't I have it?" Yuffie asked as she opened the door to the bathroom and walked out, tossing the piece of thunder Materia onto her pink carpeted floor. The Materia bounced slightly as it touched the floor. 

"Because-" Cloud's head snapped to the ball of Materia that had come to a complete stop. "Because-" Cloud's thoughts burst out, they processed through his brain too quickly for him to have any reaction to them. "Because-" Cloud's vision began to dim, his scar below his right shoulder burned, his right arm twitching without any control. "Because-" He kept repeating the word without even realizing it, his thoughts and eyes focused only on the piece of Materia.

"Cloud?" Yuffie asked as she took a few steps back.

"Because-" was the only word that left Cloud's mouth as he stared into the bright ball of Materia. It began shining through his mind like a brilliant star. "Because-" His arm twitched around some more as a wave of heat seemed to pour out of his scar under his right shoulder, and made its way down his arm.

"I...I am going to go get help..." She said as she made her way slowly out of the room.

"Because-" His eyes started shifting rapidly from side to side. He blinked over and over. "Because-" His breath intake slowed, the amount of air he took in began increasing. "Because-" He started to speak louder. "Because!-" He slid off the bed and onto the floor, his knees hitting the flat surface and the rest of his body crashing down onto them. It was only a foot fall, but there seemed to be a great weight pushing on Cloud. His right arm lifted up slowly, he didn't even realize what he was doing. His hand grabbed the ball of Materia after shaking the leather glove off.

"Because!-" He yelled out as his hand wrapped around the ball of Materia, squeezing onto it as hard as he could, the heat flowing through his arm increasing. His arm feeling like it was about to melt at any given moment. His body slowly raised upwards, his legs feeling like the were about to fall off. The heat spread spread throughout his entire body as his legs dragged him slowly across the floor, making their way to the wall on the opposite side of the room. "Because-" he said again in a low voice. The pictures teased him, but the pink metal wall cried out for his hand.

The wall was about four inches in front of him when he stopped walking. His right arm rearing back slowly, stretching the skin on his arm as far as it could possibly go, before slamming his fist bearing the Materia, into the wall. The thick sheet of metal gave away slightly, showing a small dent around freshly cracked paint, the Materia ball still held in his fist.

"Because!" He screamed out before slamming his fist into the dent, causing it to larger as his knuckles cried out in pain. "Because!" He continuously slammed his fist over and over into the wall. "Because, because, because!" He slammed his fist further into the dent, the bones in his hand ready to give away. "Be-cause!" He yelled for the last time before slamming his fist into the severely dented wall.

The Materia ball shattered, the shards from it drove themselves into his hand. The energy of the ball spread itself throughout Cloud's body as sparks of electricity ran out from Cloud's arm and into the metal of the wall. It began to follow the walls around before a small explosion was heard from somewhere off in the ship.

"We're going down!" A voice screamed from somewhere in the ship

The room tilted over, Materia balls rolled across the floor, tapping against the wall on the other end of the small enclosure. Cloud stood unaffected by this, the only thing that did affect him was feeling as if his gut was floating.

Suddenly, the feeling stopped and Cloud was sent flying through the air, straight into the wall on the other end of the room.

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Cloud tried opening his eyes, but found himself too weak to be able to do that. He could not move at all, he seemed to be pinned down from something, something that felt like it was pressing down onto his chest. He could hear a loud ringing inside his head, but besides that, all he could hear was a fire burning somewhere. 

He heard footsteps walking around on metal.

"Cloud?" Said a voice he couldn't recognize due to the ringing. "He-Hey I found him!" The footsteps grew closer, "are you okay Cloud?"

A second pair of footsteps could be heard.

"Ya found him?" Asked the other voice.

"Yea! Although he seems to be pinned underneath my bed... which wouldn't be a problem if the mattresses weren't stuffed with-" she paused for a second, "Err.. never mind! Let's just get it off of him."

"Stuffed with wah?"

"Ow!" The person jumped back a bit.

"What happened?"

"He... He shocked me!"

There was a moment of silence.

"Wah?"

"He ...he... Oh, never mind! Here! You try touching him!"

"I'm not touching 'im"

"Than just help me do something to get him out of here!"

"Hey! You aren't supposed to be tha' boss around here! That is _my_ job."

Cloud felt his eyes tingle slightly before he slipped back into a void of unconsciousness.

* * *

A comfortable warmth surrounded him from the fabric of a blanket which must have been placed on him while he was still out of it. The feeling of added weight made Cloud slowly wake up as somebody placed their hand on his shoulder. 

"Be okay ...Cloud."

He heard footsteps moving away over the ringing in his ears before a door closing shut was heard.

* * *

"Cloud?" He felt a two hands rest onto his left arm through the sheet. "Cloud are you okay?" 

Here, Cloud noticed that the ringing had gone down a bit, yet he still could not move or open his eyes, although he still had no idea who anyone talking was.

He could hear the door open from the end of the room.

"Hey, we have to let Cloud rest." The second person said

"But-"

"Tifa said we had to let him rest, so come on!"

The other person sighed.

"Okay... hope you get well soon Cloud..."

He heard the door slowly close shut once again.

* * *

"Cloud? Are you awake?" Said someone who was speaking in a low tone. "No? Good!" 

The voice sounded so familiar to Cloud, but he could not put a face to it.

"Well! I am here because I sort of have feelings I do not know about, and my conscious was screaming at me to tell someone, and... Well, you are someone! You aren't really awake but you are a someone!"

"Okay... Okay, well, I think I like someone, and I don't know if they- okay they might... okay they _do_... I think... Anyways. Well, well, well I sort of like them, and I want to see them again, but they are like, not here and stuff and, and... they are sort of far away, do you think I should go see them? Okay, great, thanks for the talk, bye!"

Cloud mentally sighed before passing out again.

* * *

He heard the door slowly close, the ringing was almost gone but his mind was still not fully there. He lifted his eyelids from over his eyes for the first time in a while. He could vaguely see the room behind a shadowed figure. It was too blurry to make out and hurt his newly opened eyes. 

"Hey, feeling better?" Said the person.

Cloud felt warmth at the sound of her voice, so he eased back a bit.

"Well I sort of... have something for you, I wrote it just a while ago, and I have been working on it all day. I just thought I should read it to you... but yea, it might not be good, I have not done anything like this in a while. Oh well, it is called Jelly Bird."

"_Through the River  
And through the falls  
Came a little spot  
Where we gathered in awe_

_Came down the Jelly Bird  
That flew to thee_

_Watching and waiting  
Going through the fall_

_Down past the Winter  
Down Past the Trees  
Down past the Summer  
Down through them all _

_Down through the river  
And through the falls  
I have been waiting, all through, it all_

_Where is my Jelly Bird  
There is no sight at all_

_Where are you my Jelly Bird  
Why won't you save me_

_I'm waiting past Winter  
I'm waiting through the Fall_

_I am waiting to see you  
Down passed those Blue Falls_

I a_m waiting to see you  
My good weary friend_

_I am waiting and waiting and waiting with care_

_So hope that one day I will see you again  
And watch you in awe  
I am waiting to see you_

_My little_

_Jelly_

_Friend._"

Cloud smiled a little bit before falling back into sleep.

* * *

Jolting upright in his bed, sweat dripping off of his forehead, the blonde awoke with a start. The room was dim and quiet. It sounded like no one was even around, there were no sounds from the street, no noise from the bar. What was going on? 

Cloud threw the covers off his legs and got onto his feet wearily. He was surprised and pleased at the same time to discover that he had full control of his arms and legs.

"_Definitely a dream,"_ he thought to himself as he walked out of the door and down the steps to the bar.

No one was in the lower level of the building, but there were a few dirty glasses in the sink. Cloud scratched his head and walked towards the exit of the bar. He opened the door and a wave of bright light poured in through it and into the shady building. The blonde brought his arm up to shield the light, but he noticed his eyes did not react to it in any way, so letting his arm drop to his side, Cloud walked out the door.

He felt like his gut was floating again, as the inside of Northern Crater was set in front of him.

He saw Kadaj standing around, pacing back and forth, while Loz sat down with his back against the wall messing with the floor. Cloud felt like he was watching over them somehow, but he couldn't understand it at all, he felt like he was there, just... not there.

"How do we get him... how do we get him...," Kadaj mumbled under his breath as he continued pacing.

"We could always just wait for him to wake up," Loz stated as he continued doing whatever it was that he was doing.

"Then he will be able to defend himself. There is also the fact that there are too many of them guarding him for us to get through... wait! When he wakes up... he will be weak." Kadaj stopped his pace, staring ahead as his eyes began to slowly rise. "He will not be able to do anything about it, and, after I reclaim my sword, we will capture him and continue with our plans..."

Cloud's vision became blurry. Slowly, all of it seemed to suck out of his eyes as everything around him returned to darkness.

* * *

**Sorry this took so long! Next chapter will be out faster... I swear! It will be longer too! But these are always such great stopping points that I can not resist stopping... Heh. Review!**

**Thank Jackie for her wonderful editing skills!**


	5. Chapter 4: Idiots

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**Chapter Four: Idiots... **

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**First, an author note in the beginning of the chapter. Either way, this is to mention an important (sort of) change in one of my chapters. When Yuffie put the ball of Materia in her arm, I found out that, that is not possible for human beings to be able to do, so I went back and fixed it.**

* * *

Cloud slowly fell out of his dream; a phone ringing brought him out of his sleep. His eyelids twitched slightly as he moved his head around slightly. 

"Hello?" He heard Tifa say from next to him. "Oh, Hey! Yea, he is here, Cloud seems to be getting better as well, it seems. Okay, see you then." He heard her hang up the phone after this, followed by her lifting his sheets up slightly, and using it to cover his shoulders. Then she walked out of the room and closed the door.

Cloud opened up his eyes, before the light of the room burned his eyes, causing him to squeeze his eyelids down. He opened his eyes a few more times, before he adjusted to the light.

His vision worked its way slowly back to him, slowly coming back from the blur that the room was in. The pipes attached onto the ceiling slowly became more visible as Cloud senses began returning to him.

The ringing in his ears had left him, but left a strong sting in his brain. He shifted his head slightly, and then went on to try to lift his arms. The reawakened muscles in his arms cried out in pain. He as well, could hardly move his feet, he did not know how long he had been asleep, or in a Coma... he didn't know which to consider it, but it must of been a little bit, considering the fact that he could hardly move at the moment.

He worked very slowly at lifting his left arm, the covers of the bed weighing down on him, as much as his sword would. His arm convulsed slightly as his muscles tried to wake up from their long slumber. Cloud finally lifted his arm high enough to place onto his stomach; he let it fall across it as he began on the other arm.

He slowly began to try to tilt to the left, trying in a desperate attempt to roll off of the bed that was only raised a foot from the ground. He pressed down as hard as he could with his right elbow, trying to knock him slightly into the roll. After using his elbow to attempt to lift him up, he tried to turn himself around by using force from his left shoulder.

After a while his muscles finally let him to turn all the way around lay on his stomach, as well as his hand, at the edge of the bed with his head hanging off of it. His neck strained as he tried to lift it from facing downward, towards the metal of the bed frame.

Slowly, he began to softly push the front of his feet against the bed, which caused him to begin sliding more and more off the ledge. He continued this until finally, he had achieved his goal and slowly fell to the floor... Well... Crashed.

Some more time later, let us say, much later, it seems as though Cloud is finally starting to get strength back, as he managed to get onto his knees and have his arms resting on the table that had many papers, as well as the phone, on it. Upon seeing the useful contraption, Cloud knocked it off its charger before dialing his cell phone number.

Behind the phone something began rumbling against the wood. After moving the phone away, he found that it was his phone on vibration mode.

Cloud sighed and let his head fall to the table, followed by him letting his hands slide off the table, knocking most of the papers off in the process as he let his hands fall to the floor, and began to crawl. He slowly dragged himself towards the door, putting his arms out in front of him on the wooden floor, pulling his body towards it.

He stopped about an inch from the door, reaching his hands up from the ground to grab the doorknob. His hands wrapped themselves around the golden handle before Cloud pulled himself upward, struggling slightly.

Finally standing at full height, himself being held up by his hands that were pushing into the doorknob, he pulled the door opened. Placing his hands on the other side of the doorknob, Cloud forced himself out, before seeing a red-cloaked figure standing in front of him.

Vincent.

"Have a good sleep?" Vincent asked, his back against the wall near the staircase, his right leg set out further than his left, the left being perfectly straight, downward.

"It was confusing," Cloud said in a weak voice, his vocal cords not being fully awakened yet. "But I do know this, Kadaj, is coming back for his sword."

"He's tried already, a few times, very unsuccessful attempts, though. I think he was merely trying to understand our tactics before he actually made a full attempt; what makes you think he was coming, by the way?" Vincent said, looking downward the entire time.

"I had—a dream."

"Dream? Well, then it might possibly happen, but the real question is if we can actually believe that, who was there, or was there anything unusual going on?" Vincent asked, finally look up towards Cloud.

"Well, Kadaj, and Loz, I didn't see Yazoo-"

Vincent smirked before looking down at the floor.

"-Loz was doing something weird with the ground, but I don't know if it was anything important, Kadaj was talking, and that's about it." There was something missing, Cloud knew that there was but he just couldn't see it, the scene slowly turning into a blur. Why couldn't he just remember?

He continued his smirk afterwards. "Hmph, either way, I must be going. Don't worry about the sword, it's safe for the moment."

"You feel it coming, don't you? Where are you going this time?" Cloud finished, his shoulder getting numb.

"The Forgotten City, I guess I have begun to take a liking to the place." Cloud nodded before Vincent flicked his cloak and walked down the stairs.

Cloud let go of the door handle and caught himself on the doorway, the muscles in his arms pounding in spasms from being forced to hold a great amount of weight early in their awakening.

Cloud made his way out of the room, making the two-foot limp to the stairs before grabbing onto the metal handle bar and slowly guided himself down the stairs, pictures rocking back and forth as his arm bumped into them.

Upon reaching the landing on the bottom of the stairs, Cloud guided himself along using the pile of boxes stacked in the corner of the landing. Limping forward, Cloud made his way down the short hallway before turning right, into the hallway leading to the bar. He found his way down it and walked into visible sight of the bar.

The few customers in the room looked up, there was one person at the bar, sitting on the stool in front of it, and there were three people in the seats in the back.

The person sitting at the bar gave Cloud an eerie feeling. He was dressed in a tan trench coat covering almost his entire body, with a tan hat, and sunglasses. The hat covered up the entire top and sides of his head and he wore black gloves on his hands.

"Cloud," Tifa said, walking over to the blonde from behind the bar, "Shouldn't you be getting rest? You need to give your muscles time to return to their original state."

Cloud propped himself up against the wall next to the hallway leading back to where he had come in from. He then looked over at Tifa. "Did Vincent tell you anything?" Cloud let himself slide to the floor so that he was sitting with his back against the wall.

Tifa shook her head, "No, he left soon after coming down the stairs."

Cloud nodded for a second, "Well, I had a dream that Kadaj and Loz were about to come here to obtain his sword."

The man behind the bar took a swig of the drink that was sitting in front of him, and set it back down on the table. Tifa looked behind her at him after his glass made a clinking noise as it landed on the wooden counter.

"Are you sure you can trust the dream?" Tifa asked, bending down onto one knee and looking Cloud in the eyes.

"I am pretty sure-yes… I believe I can." Cloud said, not completely convinced whether to be sure of himself or not.

"Okay, then I am going to go call everyone here, you sit down and just rest, okay?" Tifa asked him, wanting to put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him, but was restraining herself, not wanting to get shocked.

Cloud made a small sigh, but then nodded as Tifa went upstairs to his room to go use the phone. He sat there looking around the bar filled with many pictures that were filled with memories of the past, some of them were drawings from Marlene and Denzel, but a few were just pictures that were taken for scenery.

"Okay, most of them are on their way," Tifa said, walking in through the door next to Cloud.

"Quick," Cloud stated to her. She smiled a bit and walked behind the counter, before picking up some kind of bottle of liquor and refilling the man's glass, of which, was just about empty, and the ice almost fully melted. Then she walked over to the sink and picked a glass up out of it, cleaning the sparkling crystal.

Cloud looked down at his hands, the glove that was on his right hand had returned. Memories leaked into Cloud's mind from what had happened a month ago, it was his fault the airship had crashed, because he was too weak and let Sephiroth get into his mind again. Maybe, was it really his fault? Was it something that he himself, could not stop, and was it useless to blame himself for it? He did not know; he just ended up staring at his glove as all the thoughts flowed in and out of his mind.

He remembered how his body had just completely stopped all of its functions, only pertaining to the one it was last doing, he could hear himself screaming, "because!" over and over in his head. It made him squint his eyes tightly closed as he shook his head slightly.

Hearing the door to the bar open up, Cloud lifted his head up to try and catch a glimpse at whom it was that was coming inside, or leaving, the bar. This is when he noticed that the man in the trench coat was no longer there, and Tifa was on to cleaning his glass.

He thought that it was only the man leaving the bar, but instead, Kadaj and Loz walked inside, observing their surroundings.

Cloud heard a glass smash on the floor, and turned his head to noticed Tifa staring at them. She had dropped the glass she was cleaning on the floor in shock. Kadaj looked over to her, then to Cloud, a smirk on his face emerging as he slowly stepped towards Cloud, glaring at him through his silver hair.

Tifa noticed this and ran over and put herself in front of Cloud, her back to him, vivid eyes looking at Kadaj. She was ready to protect Cloud just as she would anyone else.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked the silver haired man.

"Why, you ask? For the same reason why you are risking your life for that man. You love your friends, and consider them your family and would do anything to protect them. Just how much I care for the Mother I never knew, or met. I only know an order that of which, I am born with, no voice, just a single objective I have to obtain.

I trust her, and love her, just as much as the brother I have only felt the presence of, but never even knew or seen, not even while he was controlling me. After my spirit lifted away, the Lifestream shut me out and wouldn't let me in; I was left to wander around the world as a blank spirit.

I had no control over anything that happened, but then that is when Mother brought us back, although we stuck with the sight of the inside of the Crater day after day. I do not know who to trust, only my family will get that from me."

"I have-a question," Cloud spoke up. Tifa turning around to look at him. "How are you guys able to place Materia in your bodies, that is not supposed to be humanly possible, also, why don't you bleed or anything."

"Interesting question. This is because we are not human. We have no flesh and or body composition, we are made up of Jenova's cells." Kadaj informed them.

"Geostigma?" Cloud asked the man.

"No, Geostigma is what is known as the disease of which you obtain if your body tries to reject the cells, we, in our own right, are made up of nothing but Sephiroth's spirit and Jenova's cells, basically like the enemies we can summon, the same cells, the same substance, but different wills."

Cloud tilted his head slightly, "I see, what of it, do you receive if you complete your Mother's wishes? Can it not only be seen as her using you to bring Sephiroth back?"

"No!" Kadaj said, walked up to Cloud but was forced back from Tifa keeping her stand. "Move!" Kadaj yelled, issuing a hand gesture informing the same thing.

Tifa gave small smile before taking out two gloves from her pocket and began slipping them on her hands. "You must first, have to get through me," Tifa said whilst getting into her fighting stance.

Kadaj looked at her for a bit, "very well, Loz, you fight her while I go and look for my sword!"

Loz gave a small pout, before a big smirk spread across his lips, "okay." He walked up to her as Kadaj slipped into the hallway. Loz raised his hand from its usual position and twisted on the knob that rested on the handle to his Dual Hound, allowing the handle to snap forward before resting in his hand. "Ready to play, again?" He said whilst getting into his fighting position as well.

Tifa stared at him, waiting, since she made the first move last time, it would be smart to let him act out first. He could be expecting her to go again. Then she noticed something. Loz's right foot was three quarters of a foot behind the left foot that was right next to him. His stance was off, leaving his lower half prone to attack since the ability to react is severed because most of his weight was focused on his upper half, while hardly any was being focused on the legs, which meant that they are less mobile.

Tifa gave a great jolt of energy as she rushed forth, towards Loz. She jumped lightly into the air before kicking both of her feet forward towards Loz's shins. They impacted. Loz was sent forward, above Tifa. Before landing, Tifa reached up and grabbed Loz. She spun herself around and had Loz's back facing the floor.

When they crashed on the ground, they slid for about two feet forward due to the momentum of Tifa's original charge at Loz. Rolling slightly to the right, Tifa threw Loz towards the tables sitting in the middle of the room. Leaving her arms, Loz grabbed Tifa's outreached hands, before throwing her instead into the tables.

Tifa shot through the metal pipe underneath the table, knocking it out from underneath the top of the table, before crashing into the floor, and stopping after crashing into the tables at the bar. Tifa clutched her sides with her arms and got up, catching her breath and getting back into her stance.

Not giving even her enemy a chance to rest, she charged at Loz, stepping over the rubble of the table she jumped into the air, an expression of shock on Loz's face, before Tifa sent her shoe right into his chest. Loz stumbled back a few steps and onto his knees as Tifa crashed onto the floor.

Loz tightened his grip on the handle of the Dual Hound and charged after Tifa, slamming his weapon straight to the ground, to the area where Tifa was. Tifa rolled out of the way, the weapon breaking into the wooden floor, leaving a gash about the size of a six-inch circle, the edges of the gash surrounded by splinters.

Tifa rolled backwards after getting out of her original roll, Loz followed her, slamming his Dual Hound towards her each time, Tifa barely evading. After getting out of a roll, the determined fighter found herself facing Loz; her lower body on the floor, her knees bent upwards, the hands on her arms holding herself up.

Loz sent the weapon straight at her chest. Tifa quickly picked up the top of the table that was lying on the ground to the right of her and placed it in front if her legs, shielding her arms on the top of the back of the wooden circle, holding her head away from the thing just before Loz's arm slammed through the table and stopped after some movement, almost piercing right through Tifa's shirt.

Loz pushed downward on the handle as lightning struck through the metal rods, jolting right into Tifa, pushing her backwards by the great amount of force. She flew backwards into the air, her hands still gripped on the edges of the table, taking the thing backwards with her. Loz's Dual Hound slipped right off his arm as it got caught in the hole.

Tifa landed against the wall, her feet behind her, barely holding her up, pushing off with all of their force as she soon blasted off of the wall and went straight into Loz, the table-top still in her hands. It smashed right into him, knocking him onto the ground and covering them both.

Tifa jumped on the top of the table-top for a second before walking over and picking up the Dual Hound, tightening it onto her hand, the handle flipping back into her grasp, a smile on her face as Loz smashed the table-top off of him and stood up, wiping off a bit of black mist off his cheek, anger showing in his grunt.

A smear of purple and blue crossed around the room as Loz darted in every direction in an attempt to confuse Tifa. He then stopped a few feet away from her and darted straight at her. Tifa hurled her arm forward, pulling back on the handle, the weapon colliding with Loz before discharging a payload of the electric energy.

Loz flew backwards, smashing through a table and breaking the two glasses on it as the entire thing went with him as he smashed into the old pinball machine.

"That's three glasses you owe me!" Tifa said before charging forward at Loz. He got up and sent his left fist toward Tifa's head but she swiftly ducked under it. She then put her palms on the ground and held her weight upward as she swung her legs around and crashed them into Loz's shins, causing him to fall to the ground in front of him. The sound of the door creaking open came from somewhere behind them, but the two were too entangled with their fight to notice.

Tifa rolled over the floor before running at the wall at full speed, then jumping into the air and landing her right foot onto the wall, pictures beginning to fall off and break. She placed all the force she had in kicking her foot back off the wall and began charging towards Loz. A foot before reaching him she lessened the amount of weight on her left leg, allowing it to begin to go into the air. She then lifted up her right leg, her body suspended slightly in the air as she did her flip, followed by her driving her right foot upward into Loz's chin.

Tifa spun herself around so her front was facing toward the ground. She bent her knees forward a bit, placing the shin of her right leg forward, and her left knee bend toward the ground before placing the palm of her hands at the same level her legs were at.

She landed on the ground with a gentle thump, Loz already onto his feet somehow. Tifa let her left leg fall onto the ground, her foot pressing against the wood before she charged with her right hand, her grip tightening on the handle of the Dual Hound. Loz readied himself and clenched his left hand into a fist before raising his arm back, ready to strike.

"You're all idiots..." came a monotone voice from the doorway. The two froze and looked in the direction of the door. A small girl at about the height of five-foot one stood in the doorway. Her pearly white hair was put in two ponytails on the top of her head, the hair long hanging passed her chin, her eyes a light brown.

"Who... are you?" Tifa asked, her right arm still extended near Loz, the two just a few inches from touching each other.

"Nikita Elaine Chapperh, Co-Pilot for the Sherra," she stated in the same monotone voice.

Tifa and Loz exchanged looks of bewilderment to one another, before looking back at the small girl and blinking a few times.

The girl sighed. She looked towards the ground, "Idiots..." she said, under her breath.

* * *

**Yay! See, I finally finished! Took me a long time, but I finally finished! This is probably my most hardest worked on chapter, of all time, I worked on it numerous times at home and at school, trying to get every detail correct, and everything! Sorry it took so long, but it was the difficulty of this chapter that got me! Either way, expect the next chapter up a lot sooner, and probably with more words! **


	6. Chapter 5: Dissolution

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**Chapter Five: Dissolution**

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**Hey! Sorry it's being a bit since I last updated... It's been kind of hectic. Now I also want to try and say I think my writing is crap so I didn't want to update with a crap-tastic chapter... So I am going to try harder... Okay? Heh, oh yeah, and to get rid of my troubles from starting my chapters off, I will sometimes put the ending from my last chapter in the beginning of a newer one... Like I am going to do here, so don't mind it.**

Special Visitor **Foggy Brains** says: A little note here. Some of you might know Cid's ship as the Sierra, some might know it as the Sherra. They're the same thing. The difference has to do with some translation struggles. I'm not even sure which one is correct. I know it better as the Sierra, but it could be Sherra, considering that's Cid's wife's name. :D

And don't be mean about the "footles" thing. You'll know what I mean when you read it. Just remember Tifa's "Dilly dally shilly shally" that's so totally random, okay?

For listening purposes, I reccomend AFI. Just because that's what I'm listening to. :)

**

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"Who... are you?" Tifa asked, her right arm still extended near Loz. The two were only mere inches apart.

"Nikita Elaine Chapperh, Co-Pilot for the Sherra," she stated in the same monotone voice.

Tifa and Loz exchanged a look of bewilderment, before looking back at the small girl and blinking a few times.

The girl sighed. She looked toward the ground, saying under her breath:"Idiots."

"Footles footles footles..." Tifa stated looking toward Loz with a smirk on her face.

A look of redundancy appeared across Loz's face. The look dissapeared, instead becoming aglare directed at Tifa,before a small black dot appeared on his forehead. It spread like a wildfire across his face. It appeared that he was dissolving into the air as a thick, black mist.

His body showed signs that it was in pain,his structure and minddissolving in the air involuntarily.He threw his hands in front of his face as though shielding himself before he turned and ran out through the door, speeding passed Nikita.

"I'm glad I have so many other uses than just being the copilot," she stated, before sighing and walking up to Tifa (who was rather shocked, considering what had just happened) and stretching out her hand. "Come on, it's time to go."

"What about Cloud?" she asked, accepting the hand and being brought to her feet.

Nikita glanced over at the sleeping blond laying against the wall. "Oh yeah... _Him._ Might as well bring him. You'll have to carry him though; no way I can lift him," she stated before walking out the door, followed by a sudden breaking noise from one of the upper floors, although no one seemed to notice.

"Hey guys! Sorry I am late!" Yuffie spit out as she ran into the bar in her usual cheerful manner. "Jeez! What happened to this place?"

"Oh good, you can help Tifa carry Cloud," Nikita peered into the room, then left again, leaving the other two on their own.

"She's mean... Do we really have to carry Cloud?"

Tifa looked over at the sleeping man, "Yeah, I guess we do." They walked up to Cloud. "Hmm, remember to not touch his skin-"

"The shocks."

"Yeah, anyway, I'll get his legs, and you get his head."

"But the upper body is heavier. Why do I have to get it?"

"Because I have to lead you in the direction we're going."

Yuffie sighed, "Oh alright. Hey, what happened here anyway, and where did _they_ go?"

"Oh, right. You didn't hear about that. Well it seems Loz and Kadaj came here to try and get his weapon back, but now they are both unarmed." Tifa stated raising up her arm to show the Dual Hound still resting there.

Yuffie sighed before running off and snatching a pillow from a randomly chosen room so she could put it underneath Cloud's head. For reasons being she didn't want to get shocked.

Tifa peered over Cloud in a moment of thought. "Hmm," she thought out loud, raising her hand to glide it down the side of her hair as she seemed to think to herself.

She flicked her hair into the air once she had gotten an idea.She bent her back forwards and then proceeded upon wrapping her fingers around each one of Cloud's boots. Her left hand was on his right foot, and her right hand held the opposite one so that her arms crossed over each other.

Tifa gave a tug, but was only rewarded with a light bit of movement, as Cloud was too heavy. Her face showed signs of her struggle, but soon dismissed it as she set about her task once more. She wrapped her hands tighter around the boots before pulling back with more force.

This time Cloud moved forward a bit, yet his head was still resting against the wall. Though his neck was now a few centimeters away from touching the wall. Forcing her hands forward Tifa clung to Cloud's legs, (of which were covered in his usual black pants) then pulled back on the calf muscles her fingers were clutching on to.

From there on she moved farther up the leg, pulling him further back each time. Seeing as his head was close to hitting the floor, Yuffie placed the pillow gently on the floor beneath it, followed by Tifa pulling back with a great amount of force with her hands underneath Cloud's knees. Cloud's head slipped from the wall, went over the pillow, and hit the hardwood floor.

"Oh phooey," the spunky girl whispered under her breath as she threw her hand down and stomped her right foot. Yuffie put her fisted hands on her hips and gave the unaware Cloud a stubborn look. "You really want to make this hard on yourself, don't you?" she complained, covering her face with one hand.

She hunched over and grasped her gloved hands firmly around locks of Cloud's hair, before pulling upward with most of her force, lifting part of his torso as well. She inched her right foot over the pillow and slid it under the man's head.Yuffie then decided to let go of his hair, letting Cloud's head fall limply to the pillow.

"Be gentle!" cried Tifa from the other end of his body.

"He's asleep; he won't know!"

The older woman sighed before wrapping her arms around Cloud's forelegs. "Ready?" she asked impatiently.

"No!" Yuffie blatantly replied. "But I guess I can be, if you want me to."

"Just pick up his damn head," Tifa growled out.

Yuffie mocked Tifa in a rather childish fashion. Mostly by flailing her arms around in the air in front of her face, saying words like: 'nag nag nag,' and: 'nyeah nyeah nyeah.' She slid her hands underneath the pillow that Cloud's head rested on, and pulled upward around the same time as Tifa. Cloud was exactly as heavy as Yuffie had expected him to be. Though that didn't mean that she could carry him all that well.

Tifa began backing up at a quick pace with Yuffie strugglingto keep up. "He's too heavy-he's too heavy-he's too heavy!"

"Shush with that!"

"I'm gonna fall-I'm gonna fall-I'm gonna fall!" she continued. But because she was too busy nagging, she didn't realize Cloud's head beginning to slide off of the pillow. "I'm gonna fall!" Then he fell completely off the pillow onto the floor with a loud CRASH, leaving a stunned Yuffie staring at the pillow still in her hands. "Nope... He's gonna fall..."

Tifa looked at the other half of Cloud lying on the floor; his legs still in her hands. "Did you just...?" she asked.

"No!" The girl stated. "He just kind of... fell?"

Tifa stared at her with her eyes gleaming in a sort of odd anger. "I'm going to lock you in your room."

"Awww! But why?" Yuffie screeched.

"Because you _dropped_ the Cloud."

Yuffie appeared confused for a moment, "I dropped a cloud?" she questioned.

An awkward moment of silence followed forth after that statement. Nothing but the sound of the people outside the bar could be heard.

Yuffie clenched her teeth and let her lower lip drop, before quickly gathering Cloud's head back up in her grasp on the pillow. The two began walking out of the open door. Slowly moving past the bored looking Nikita.

The co-pilot sighed and looked to the floor."I am surrounded by idiots."

While Yuffie at the same time stated something along the lines of: "He also fell because he deserved it for hiding most of my Materia."

* * *

"Heh heh heh. I must say Cloud, your friends amuse me. I hope you enjoy your present, as well. I made sure to wrap it carefully."

* * *

Fire... He felt like his body was on fire. A fire so hot that an extinguisher would explode if it even tried to put it out. 

A fire that could probably take on the sun, and win.

A flame that was spreading inside of him, devouring his insides to what felt like ashes.

Cloud jumped out of his bed throwing his covers off of him; he nearly collapsing on the floor.

He panted desperately for air, looking behind him to find a puddle of sweat in his bed. His body was sweating at a rapid pace; slowly devouring away any of the small amount of fat he had on his body.

He gasped for more air, quickly trying to run out of the cramped room that was the size of a closet. He ended up collapsing to his knees, then proceeded to crawl out of the room.

Terrible amounts of wind slammed against him as he exited the room. It blew the sweat off his body, making him slightly more uncomfortable than he was already. He used all of the strength he had to crawl along the small hallway. His energy was running out fast as the heat sucked him dry of fluids.

He finally dragged his sweaty body to the end of the hall. The door numbered ten showing in darknumbers. He sighed in relief between breaths, but was angered once the automatic door didn't open.

He slammed his right fist against the door multiple times, the closed portalshaking in response. "Y-Yuffie!" he screamed out, the words barely leaving his mouth.

"What?" came a questioned reply from the spunky girl in the room.

"L-let me in!"

"I can't... It's locked."

"Can you ple–please unlock it?" He coughed heavily after that, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth.

"Okay... Open says-a-me!"

A moment of silence followed as Cloud panted heavily.

She replied again, "Didn't work... I guess it's because the locks on your side."

Cloud lifted up his head, that of which, was getting heavier. He looked around for any sort of locking-mechanism.

He saw a panel to the right of the door with a code panel on it. Which required a number password before the door would unlock.

Cloud slammed his fist into the device. Sparks flew out of the fresh dent that was revealed there. The door opened.

Cloud crawled as fast as he could to the first piece of Materia he could find; the little ball being sucked into his flesh.

Now Cloud could only hope... Only hope that the small piece of Materia would save him before his body was completely dried out... Could only hope...

* * *

**Yes! I finally wrote out a chapter! Sorry that it is a short chapter, though... I found my inspiration to write again! I am so happy. Yes, I know, bad cliffhangers! Bad! I know the chapter may have been a tad corny... But it sure was FUN to write . Expect the next chapter being up VERY SOON. I promise this time... Unless I have to baby sit. Then it will be moved to- Soon.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

Special Visitor **Foggy Brains** says: Review:D


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